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ByCompiled from wire reports by staffMarch 24, 2006

Quick: What do professional sports arenas and moose in Norway have in common? Answer: naming rights. Really. With few exceptions, franchise owners have developed a lucrative revenue stream by selling to big corporations the opportunity to place their brands above the main entrances to baseball , football, basketball, or ice hockey venues. So where do the moose come in? Well, when wildlife officials in the Scandinavian country decided to study the migratory habits of the large critters by fitting them with tracking collars, they discovered that they didn't have enough money to go forward. Solution: sell sponsorships . For 5,000 kroner (US$740), a participating company could have its name attached to one of the two dozen or so animals in the study and then follow its movements via the Internet. Corporate Norway bought into the idea, and soon there was a Telenor (for the national communications giant) moose and an Interoptikk Brillehjoernet (for a chain of opticians' outlets). The resulting revenues won't cover the full cost of the project, but enough to allow it out of the starting gate . "We sold five this morning alone," a spokesman said earlier this month. At last word, fewer than a half-dozen moose remained available, but they were going fast.